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Sunday, March 27, 2016

Streaming Is Now the Recording Industry's Core, and It's Being Treated As Such

"research has shown consumer awareness in many streaming brand increased in the last year."

Billboard - The access model is undoubtedly the future of music, and its services are finally showing a glimpse of their potential. There shouldn't be any expectations of reaching anything like 100 million subscriptions in the U.S. any time soon. Or ever. But, between strong subscription growth and increased brand awareness, streaming is now an opportunity, not (just) a problem.U.S. Recording Industry Sees Slight Uptick in Revenue Last Year, Streaming Dominates DigitalStreaming services of all stripes have come a long way in five years. In 2010, the year before Spotify launched in the U.S., revenue from both subscription and ad-supported streaming was $212 million. From 2010 to 2015, fueled by smartphone apps and a broader shift to access models, that number had grown 655 percent, to $1.6 billion.These gains seemed to have eased the anxieties that streaming services initially caused in the music industry over the last five or so years -- there was a noticeable change in tenor at SXSW last week. People communicated more comfort and complained less; there was less focus on royalty rates - - although industry participants have hardly resigned themselves on the topic -- and more attention on workable business models, growth opportunities and the value in fixing metadata problems.Subscription service revenue increased 52 percent, to $2.2 billion, according to the RIAA's figures. Even more impressive was the $429 million difference between last year's revenue and 2014's. The average number of subscribers rose to 10.8 million from 7.7 million, a far better improvement than 2014's 1.5 million gain in subscribers.Maybe it should be called "the Apple effect." Sources at subscription services have told Billboard their businesses recently have seen an uptick that's due, at least in part, to the arrival of Apple Music and the resulting increase in consumer awareness. It has long been said that the subscription model's greatest hurdles are awareness and education. It appears Apple has lowered those hurdles a bit.Although it would be difficult to quantify Apple Music's contribution, research has shown consumer awareness in manystreaming brand increased in the last year. In early 2015, Beats Music, the predecessor to Apple Music, had only 27 percent brand awareness, according to Edison Research. A year later, Apple Music -- Beats Music's new name -- claimed 67 percent awareness. Other streaming brands also saw noticeable improvement: Pandora rose to 82 percent from 75 percent; Spotify jumped o 52 percent from 41 percent, Amazon Music climbed to 51 percent from 41 percent.Usage of subscription services has also increased. The percent of people surveyed who had listened to Spotify in the previous month rose to 13 percent early this year, from 11 percent in 2015 and 8 percent in 2014. This service is especially popular with the youngest consumers -- nearly one in three people in the 12-to-24 age group said they had used Spotify in the last month.All these improvements don't even include two new sources of revenue. One isDubset's partnership with Apple Music that will provide previously unlicensed remixes and DJ mixes to the service. Dubset's technology identifies recordings with these mixes, distributes to Apple Music and distributes royalties to all rights holders, both labels and publishers, according to the usage of their works in a particular mix. This technology will eventually expand to other digital services and should generate significant royalties from mixes that already expand to other digital services and should generate significant royalties from mixes that already exist but weren't being monetized. The other new source is SoundCloud, a popular streaming service that is currently underutilized. Licensing deals with the three majors has cleared the way for a subscription service that, like Dubset, will create revenue where none existed previously.In the early days of subscription services -- roughly 2006 to 2010 people proposed different business models that would return the industry to growth. Some of these models attempted to capitalize on piracy. There was an attempt to monetize peer-to-peer traffic which failed, mainly due to a lack of metadata. Many people proposed the imposition of a tax on broadband subscriptions that would compensate rights holders while allowing people to acquire music however they chose. There have been attempts to bundle music with telecom subscriptions (more successful) and consumer electronics (less successful).

The current scheme of things is different than these proposals. Labels have made consumers pay for premium streaming services and -- by law -- allow them to stream music for free but with restrictions. There are problems but there's been progress. Making money with YouTube and other video services is still a work in progress, but has definitely progressed. And people still buy downloads. The industry might not be making money from every internet connection, but it is earning a stable, and respectable amount.NIPnewsClick to read article on Billboard

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Bits 'n' Pieces

9/1/18 Blogs - One Of The Best Ways To Gain Music Exposure

Exposure through blogs has developed into one of the best ways to get your music heard...Getting exposure for your music is the only way to grow your audience, and one of the best ways to do that is through music blogs..by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0. more...

25/01/17 It's A Streaming World With Vinly Only Living In, But It's Much Better These Days

Streaming and vinyl are two growth areas helping to return the music industry to profitability. But getting your vinyl pressed hasn't been easy. "You used to not have to worry about manufacturing," Matthew Johnson, co-founder of Fat Possum Records told Billboard more..

09/09/16 Most Expensive Vinyl Ever Sold

How much is the most expensive vinyl ever sold worth? A recent test pressing of an

album sold for a record setting amount of cash, providing some insight into how high stakes the world of record collecting can become.

Ringo Starr's copy of The Beatles' self titled 1968 album has been confirmed to be the most expensive vinyl record ever sold. The first-ever pressed copy of the record was sold at an auction last December for $790,000 (522,438 pound sterling). Most commonly known as 'The White Album; each unit of record came with its own serial number stamped on the cover...more

16/5/16 ASCAP Pays $1.75 million To Settle U.S. Department Of Justice (DOJ) Investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle allegations that they had engaged in anti-competitive practices in violation of a court order.

According to DOJ, ACAP signed contracts with approximatelyu 150 songwriters and publisher members that made ASCAP the exclusive licensor of their performance rights, despite provisions in court order prohibited ASCAP from interfering with its members' ability to directly license their songs.....more

23/3/16 Paul McCartney's Bid To Reclaim Songs by The Beatles Signals a Shockwave in Music History

According to Bilboard, McCartney filed a termination notice for 32 songs with the US Copyright Office in December, taking advantage of the US copyright act of 1976, which gives songwriters an opportunity to reclaim rights after 56 years.

UPDATE: The number of songs in McCartney's filing has now been reported to total 178

The earliest songs in the Lennon-McCartney catalog become available for reclamation in 2018. An unnamed source told Billboard that McCartney would only regain the rights for his half of the compositions he wrote with John Lennon. Moreover, the act only applies to music in the US., so Sony/ATV would retain rights to the music for the rest of the world

3/1/16 Spotify Threatened With Another Class A Action Lawsuit As Disputes Over Royalties Intensify

A class-action lawsuit recently filed against Spotify by Michelman and Robinson, LLP on behalf of Cracker frontman and college professor David Lowery will soon have company, Billboard has learned. The law firm of Gradstein and Marzanno -- itself in the midst of litigation on behalf of the Turtles against Sirius XM and Pandora will file its own class-action suit.

This new suit will make similar claims as Lowery and Michelman's alleging that the subscription service is not fully licensed for some of the music it offers subscribers, and that the company is not issuing complete royalty payments...more

3/1/16 Google asked to remove more than 558 million "Pirate" links in 2015

Copyright holders asked Google to remove more than 560,000,000 allegedly infringing links from its search engine in 2015. The staggering number is an increase of 60% compared to the year before. According to Google the continued surge is a testament that the DMCA takedown process is working, but some copy right holders disagree....more

30/12/15 Live365 Suffers a Collision of Misfortunes, Lays off Most Employers Vacate Office

Internet radio hosting platform Live365, one of the most venerable brands in this industry, is affected by shifting regulations that change the cost of music on January. In addition, the company's investors have pulled support from the company, forcing an immediate financial crisis....more

Billboard - The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) just announced new webcasting rates for 2016 through 2020. These are rate services like Pandora and iHeartRadio will pay for their online streams. With the music business continuing its seemingly inexorable shift to streaming, the CRB'S is incredibly important to a wide range of companies and people. But it's a complicated subject. So here are answers to some common questions that will help Billboard readers wade through the issue.....more

12/09/15 BMI Reports Record Breaking $1 Billion Revenue

Surpassing $1 billion in revenue. This performing rights organization stated that "it generated revenues of $1.013 billion during the period ending June 30, with $877 million of that going to its songwriters, composers and publishers."

Broken down, traditional revenue from all media licensing (radio, TV, cable, satellite) saw record levels of $484 million, while fees paid by bars, hotels, fitness centers and restaurants brought in an additional $137 million. On the digital side,BMI became the first U.S. PRO to exceed $100 million in revenue, thanks to a 65 percent increase over last year. Digital revenue sources included Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Pandora, Spotify and Youtube. Meanwhile, international revenue came in at $292 million, a 5 percent drop from last year....more

26/08/15 Baboom - Alternate Music Service

Baboom, as it's called, will let artists keep 90% of their song's proceeds. A new music streaming service envisioned by Kim Dotcom, the notorious Internet entrepreneur best known as the founder of Megaupload.

Designed as an alternative to popular streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, Baboom, as it's called, let independent artists keep 90% of the proceeds through it's "Fair Trade Streaming" agreementmore...

4/09/15 Reverbnation been hacked change your passwords

In an email to users, ReverbNation shared that its data had been hacked. Law Enforcement agents say that in January of 2014, an individual, who has since been charged, illegally accessed a vendor's computer systems and gained access.

While ReverbNation emphasized that no credit card data was accessed, it did recommend that users change their passwords.

How to Change Your ReverbNation Password

1. Log in to www.reverbnation.com

2. From your Dashboard, click on your profile image in the top right of the screen

3. Select "Account"

4. Select "Change Password" in the top right of the screen

5. Enter the requested information, and click "Proceed."

6. You should immediately receive a Reverbnation email notifying you of the password change

28/08/15 1 Billion People Uses Facebook

As of August 28, 2015 Facebook recorded 1 billion users on its social media network. That's 1/7th of the world's population, including people too young, old or poor to be online using, Facebook on a single day. If you still wondered whether or not you need to have a strong presence on Facebook, you have the answer.

"On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family," Mark Zuckerber wrote. "When we talk about our financials, we use average numbers, but this is different. This was the first time we reached this milestone, and it's just the beginning of connecting the whole world."

26/08/15 Baboom - Alternate Music Service

Baboom, as it's called, will let artists keep 90% of their song's proceeds.

A new music streaming service envisioned by Kim Dotcom, the notorious Internet entrepreneur best known as the founder of Megaupload.

Designed as an alternative to popular streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, Baboom, as it's called, let independent artists keep 90% of the proceeds through it's "Fair Trade Streaming" agreementmore...

26/08/15 Next Big Sound Data. Baboom. Music Row

Based on a study by Pandora-owned music data analytics company, Next Big Sound, within the first six months of the year 2015, "music was streamed over one trillion times across various services." The data was collected based on streaming platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Radio, Vimeo, Vevo, Pandora and Souncloud - Not including Apple Music and TIDAL.

If these other services were included in data collection, there would definitely be increased streams. As the industry grows it is important to note that "streaming is the present and future of music consumption."

26/08/15 Baboom - Alternate Music Service

Baboom, as it's called, will let artists keep 90% of their song's proceeds.

A new music streaming service envisioned by Kim Dotcom, the notorious Internet entrepreneur best known as the founder of Megaupload.

Designed as an alternative to popular streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, Baboom, as it's called, let independent artists keep 90% of the proceeds through it's "Fair Trade Streaming" agreementmore...

01/07/15 Rihanna is now the Best Selling Digital Sales Artiste of All-Time

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reveals that Rihanna has sold more digital singles than anyone else in history. The first artiste to cross the RIAA 100 million song certification.

With the iTunes store only opening in 2003, the digital music industry is still pretty young, but far from devoid of competition, commerce and platinum-selling artists.

The most successful of these, it turns out, is none other than Rihanna. In a new report, the Recording Industry Association of America has revealed that Rihanna is the first artist to ever sell over 100 million digital singles, and when combined with her cumulative 7.5 million album sales, makes her the best selling digital artist of all-time more...

30/06/15 Apple Music Reviews: What Tech Critiques are Saying

Apple released the iOS 8.4 update on Tuesday (June 30), and with it came the highly anticipated Apple Music streaming service.

Users may be confused: What makes Apple Music better, or even different, from Spotify, Tidal, Rdio and Google Music?

Critics are saying....

"Streaming services aren't just jukeboxes. Apple's strategy is to combine all-you-can-eat tunes with software that watches what you're playing, and also when and where you're playing it," The Wall Street Journal's Geoffrey A. Fowler says.more...

30/06/15 Shazam feature Tracks Artists tags

Shazam has announced its newest product feature, intended to prove that "the biggest the stars in the world are also the biggest fans, "as the company's statement put it.

The company announced the new feature at an event in Trebeca, as slim-suited tech sector participants watched a performance from Shaggy.

Whether the new feature will provide the magic the company is hoping for will remain to be seen for some time -- as Chief Product Officer Daniel Danker told Billboard the new product will become interesting once enough data has beenamassed.......more

26/06/15 A Sound Opportunity: How Brands Connects With Consumers at Summer Festivals

One big area of opportunity is in mobile and tech services. According to Nielsen's Audience Insights Report: Festival Fans, 82% of festival attendees have a cell phone/smartphone. So it's no surprise we'll see cell phone brands and providers all over music festivals this summer.

Though 41% have been with their mobile provider for four or more years, festival fans are 42% more likely to switch their service than the general U.S. population - especially for the latest technology. Similarly, festival attendees are more likely to use their mobile device for more than just staying in touch. In fact, festival fans are most likely to use their smartphones as their primary way to listen to music - 74% use their smartphone to listen music.......more

18/06/15 Rasta in Jamaican Music since Ska

While the connection between Rastafari and reggae is now so commonplace as to be taken for granted, at the recent Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) conference in New Orleans, USA, Dr Michael Barnett traced the link back to pre-independence.

"I argue that Rastafari has influenced Jamaican popular music since 1959." Barnett, who lectures at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, said in making his presentation at the conference......more

1/06/15 APPLE Reportedly about to sign Canadian rapper Drake to its new Streaming Radio Offering

Multiple sources have been speculating that APPLE will debut its new BEATS-based streaming offering at WWDC during a keynote most likely occurring on June 8th the first day of the conference. Now comes more info with THE NEW YORK POST reporting APPLE is in talks to sign a rumored $19 million deal to get DRAKE as a guest DJ for the service among other things.

The paper notes, "DRAKE is just one of a host of artists APPLE wants to snag for its huge all-encompassing assault on the music front. PHARREL WILLIAMS, who touted the APPLE watch on "The Voice' last month, and French DJ DAVID GUETTA are also in talks to get on board, several music industry sources say......more

27/04/15 APPLE Reportedly 'Declares War' on Jay Z TIDAL Service

There's a reported war shaping up between APPLE's Beats Music, set for a June launch and Jay Z's streaming service TIDAL. The New York Post reports "last week it emerged that TIDAL, following its March 30th launch, has fallen out of the iPhone top 700 apps. But positioning in the app charts is driven by downloads, and according to our source, APPLE 'deliberately took a long time to approve TIDAL iOS APP updates.TIDAL had a new app on ANDROID on April 15th, but still hasn't received approval for APPLE's iOS app store'......more

18/04/15 TV + Social Media = Engaged Viewers

From keeping tabs on friends via social media to skipping lines at the store by shopping online, technology continues to reshape our everday habits. The digital landscape is only getting more crowded, as a new wave of digital devices, such as wearable and connected car technologies, gain traction......more

27/03/15 What brands and publishers need to know about Facebook?

Facebook is gradually positioning itself to become the data, media-consumption and content-sharing backbone for the entire digital media industry.

Between making user data available in its video ad network LiveRail, making its video player embeddable on publishers' websites, growing its number of standalone apps and convincing brands and publishers to serve more content through its Messenger app, it's apparent Facebook's ambitions are only growing.....more